The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of New Guinea Impatiens plant, botanically known as Impatiens hawkeri, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Tamar Purple.
The new Impatiens is a product of a planned breeding program Inventor in Maasland, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new Impatiens cultivars with uniform plant habit and attractive flower and foliage colors.
The new Impatiens originated from a cross made by the Inventor in 1997 of the Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Tamar Fuchsia, U.S. Plant Patent application filed concurrently with this application, as the male, or pollen parent, with the Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Papete, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,457, as the famale, or seed parent. The cultivar Tamar Purple was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Maasland, The Netherlands in 1997.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken at Maasland, The Netherlands, has shown that the unique features of this new Impatiens are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Tamar Purplexe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Tamar Purplexe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Impatiens cultivar:
1. Large purple-colored flowers.
2. Freely flowering habit with flowers positioned above or beyond the foliage.
3. Upright, somewhat outwardly spreading, rounded, uniform and compact plant habit.
4. Freely branching growth habit.
5. Glossy dark green leaves.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Maasland, The Netherlands, plants of the new Impatiens flower slightly earlier and have dark colored flowers than plants of the male parent, the cultivar Tamar Fuchsia.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Maasland, The Netherlands, plants of the new Impatiens differ from plants of the female parent, the cultivar Papete, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens have glossier and darker green leaves than plants of the cultivar Papete.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens flower earlier than plants of the cultivar Papete.
3. Flowers of plants of the new Impatiens are flatter than flowers of plants of the cultivar Papete.
4. Flowers of plants of the new Impatiens are displayed above and beyond the foliage whereas flowers of plants of the cultivar Papete are displayed within the foliage canopy.